notes from a global piano bar: day 8

greetings from manta, ecuador, the town the giant bat-like rays are named for… sadly, today was my turn to stay behind on the ship… every several stops, one is required to stay behind for in-port manning, as there needs to be a certain amount of crew members should any emergency arise while in port… anyway, i got a lot of things done… tonite’s theme was fun and games, volume 1… i did a round of name that tune with a couple of good stumpers – time to turn the tables, eh? heh heh! it was fun, and the winning table got 12/15 correct… pretty good! the other thing we did, which will be every wednesday, is something i call 'request round-up' – this is where i learn as many of the week’s requests i didn’t have as possible, and this week i got 17 new tunes… i worked on those for awhile, had lunch, worked a little longer, took a few pictures, took a shower and met some guests in the main dining room who asked me to join them at their table for dinner. nice change of pace from the lido! very nice folks, in fact, the lady who talked to me about coming to dinner is one of piano man’s fans, and apparently a piano broad fan, now, too! yay! 1 down, about 4 or 5 die-hards yet to go… i am happily building a nice crowd of regulars during peak times, tho, so i am less concerned now than when pm’s fans were a vocal majority at the top of the trip (even talking about trying to start a petition to get him back before my 1^st nite!). now i feel they are a small group who is moving on and some who are coming over to the “fast lane” as it were…. dinner was great; i had the foie gras mille feuilles and some seafood and vegetable skewers… i skipped dessert as i am trying to skip it every day (except sunday if i am going through sugar withdrawal) and because it was time to go to work. i am grateful for my nice room at the end of this busy and productive day, grateful i can call bob and nino and hear their voices before i go to sleep, glad i have a great gig that i enjoy, grateful for the opportunity to see these interesting places, and glad that 99.9 percent of the people out here are very friendly and interesting people… missing you all! xo, di

this is usually where the pictures go - for some reason, i am having trouble uploading images today - will put some pics of manta in later i took from the ship...

port song for manta, ecuador (quito)

(to the tune of ray charles' "what'd i say")

we arrived in ecuador today

a port called manta, the home of the ray –